I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 4 Entrance Exam

"Where the leaves dance, the fire will never die. The firelight will illuminate the village and allow new leaves to sprout!"

At the Konoha Ninja Academy, batches of new students listened to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, deliver a speech, and many of them showed expressions of admiration and even fervent excitement.

Among the new students, Minato Namikaze, whose face also wore an excited smile, looked at Tatsuma beside him after calming himself down and said, "Tatsuma, do you think we might be assigned to the same class?"

Tatsuma shook his head and said, "How would I know? But if we perform well enough, we should be assigned to the elite class, and then we can be in the same class."

"An elite class? Does such a class exist?"

Minato was taken aback. He had never heard of any elite class, and the Hokage hadn't mentioned it either. Tatsuma shrugged and didn't say anything.

There is indeed no "elite class" in the ninja academy, but Tatsuma has noticed that many children with clan crests painted on their clothes are gathered in the seats closest to the Third Hokage.

Further out, there were some children with clan crests on their clothes, as well as some children who were fully equipped. The latter might not be from a ninja clan, but their fathers were probably active ninjas.

The third layer consisted of commoners. Their clothes did not have clan insignia and their equipment was not very complete, but their ninja tools, ninja tool bags, clothes and shoes were all brand new, so their families should be quite well-off.

Tatsuma and Minato were on the outermost edge, surrounded by children who were thin and pale, with clothes that were either faded or ill-fitting. Their ninja tool bags were also badly worn, probably second-hand like Tatsuma's. If nothing else, they were all orphans.

However, unlike the other children around them who were stunted, Tatsuma and Minato, who were also war orphans, did not show signs of developmental delays. It was not that the village treated them differently; all war orphans received the same allowance. It was just that the two of them had a clear plan for their monthly allowance.

Tatsuma has lived two lives, so he understands the importance of allocating income and knows how to manage his money. As for Minato, perhaps he is precocious.

Such a well-defined seating arrangement made Tatsuma doubt that even the Ninja Academy's class assignments could be done this way. Perhaps Minato would simply think that these were just seats randomly assigned by the Ninja Academy teachers, but Tatsuma couldn't be so nonchalant.

"Come on, this way. We're going to give you an entrance test."

Shortly after Hiruzen Sarutobi finished his speech, several Konoha ninjas wearing Chunin vests led the new students to the training ground.

Tatsuma glanced around and noticed rows of targets in the distance. Five meters away from the targets, a long table stretched out, on which were placed kunai, shuriken, and other common ninja tools.

Seeing this, Tatsuma looked at Minato for no apparent reason, and Minato also looked at Tatsuma with a grateful smile on his face. Yesterday's surprise training had taught Minato how to project ninja tools.

Although my skill level is still average, at least I've memorized the techniques, and I can hit the target without any problems. I also no longer miss the target due to insufficient strength or incorrect direction.

Tatsuma smiled and said, "Keep it up! With your talent, yesterday's training should have given you a good result. How about we have a competition?"

Faced with this friend who had an excessively strong competitive spirit, Minato did not feel the helplessness he felt after being repeatedly defeated yesterday, but instead nodded decisively.

Last night, Shuimen reviewed the day he spent with this friend and found that after each game agreement, having a goal gave him more motivation and encouraged him to complete the agreed training volume.

Perhaps this is why this friend likes to arrange games in advance!

"Choose your favorite ninja tool, aim at the target in front of you and throw it five times. Don't feel pressured, it's just a simple little test."

After batches of new students had finished their tests, it was finally Tatsuma and Minato's turn. The ninja academy teacher smiled and spoke to the two of them, to which Tatsuma responded very politely:

"Could you please tell us our scores later? Thank you."

Chenma didn't mind using honorifics, especially when he needed something from someone. The teacher paused for a moment, looked at the two children who were so different in appearance from the other war orphans, and then nodded.

Seeing this, Tatsuma smiled and looked at Minato. Minato nodded and picked up a kunai from the table. Tatsuma did not hesitate and picked up a kunai as well.

The teacher was somewhat surprised to see that the two children had taken kunai, since kunai were quite heavy and large for five- or six-year-old children.

For adult ninjas, there may be no difference in the difficulty of throwing kunai, shuriken, or senbon, but for five- or six-year-old children, shuriken is the best. Kunai is too heavy, and senbon is too light and difficult to control.

But the way these two kids handled the kunai didn't seem like they were just fooling around. The ninja school teacher, who originally had no expectations for these war orphans, also looked at the target, wanting to see how the two kids would perform.

"Knock knock knock~"

"Knock knock knock~"

With almost no adjustments made midway, Tatsuma and Minato immediately picked up the kunai on the table after throwing them and continued throwing. Five kunai were shot out in a very short time, all hitting the target five meters away.

A five-meter target is too close for a ninja; they would rarely practice on it. But for children who haven't started school, just hitting the target is considered good enough.

The ninja academy instructor blinked, looked at the target again, then looked at the two of them with some surprise and asked, "Have you practiced before?"

"I usually go to the training ground to learn."

Tatsuma answered with a smile. The teacher nodded and said, "Very good. It seems you are well-suited to be ninjas. You're fifty rings, and the one next to you is forty-five. Give me your admission notices. Sakamoto Tatsuma. Namikaze Minato."

The teacher made a few marks on the two students' reports, then handed them back, saying, "Okay, go over there and take the next test."

The teacher nodded and noted down the scores of the two students. As for the others in the same batch, he didn't hear the sound of ninja tools hitting the target.

Tatsuma and Minato saluted politely before leaving. Tatsuma looked at Minato and said, "Your talent is truly amazing. If you had started training a month ago like me, you might have won."

"Ding~ [Body +2]"

Minato scratched his blond hair at his temple and said, "Without your instruction, I wouldn't have achieved what I have today. Moreover, even if I performed better, I could only catch up with you in this one instance."

"Tatsuma, if I'm not mistaken, a five-meter target won't be enough to showcase your talents, will it?"

Tatsuma smiled but didn't answer. He knew that if he hadn't picked up Minato's talent yesterday, he would have had to pray for luck today.

"Let's go, the next test is waiting for us. One excellent performance isn't enough to be assigned to the same class. Keep up the good work!"

"Okay, keep it up."

(End of this chapter)